Sunday, December 31, 2006

Well Darryl, Lucas and I got back from Florida last night so I thought I would post a long entry today. I have missed reading everyones blog and will be sure to post a new years blog tommorrow about the summary of this year and hopes for the next year.

Florida was a lots of fun. It's great to not have to wear a coat and have my mother around to help with the child and makes me dinners. =) The first day we were there we enjoyed the sunshine and the pool and did some shopping in the afternoon. I got some amazing deals but I'll include it in a later post along with pictures. Most days were spent this way although we did spend a couple of days at Disney as well.

Here are some of the most memorable moments:

It was so great to a full week with Darryl and Lucas. One of my favorite memories from the trip was one evening Lucas was being fussy after his bath and Darryl and I were trying to get him dressed. Lucas was sitting in my lap and Darryl was trying to get him dressed. To calm him down we were both singing You Are My Sunshine. I remember thinking how much I love my husband and what a great father he was. Also how much that little kid is loved. I tear up now just thinking about us. It was defintly one of those time you try to consciously commit to memory because you never want to forget it.

Lucas really got to know and love his Auntie Lexie on the trip. She would often ride in the back seat with him and keep him entertained. She would make a variety of funny noises and he would find one of them funny and then she would go with that over and over again until he was laughing so hard. I think Alexis got to appriciate all the fun things that a toddler can be. And Lucas got to experience all the fun things an Aunt can be.

We did go to MGM studios for a day and they have lots of "characters" that come out to greet the kids. Lucas's was the most pleased with Lightening McQueen and Mater. Who came out as really cars. He was having trouble understanding why he couldn't just go up and grab them like he can go up and grab his toys. This was probably the highlight of his trip if he could remember it...... We did get a chance to latch onto Mater. Going to the parks was exhausting for Lucas. In the late afternoon we went to watch Beauty and the Beast- the live on stage show. Lucas enjoyed most of it but was sure to fall asleep at the loudest most violent part when Gaston is getting ready to "Kill the Beast"

I think those were probably the highlights, although I'd love to hear Mom, Dad, Alexis and Auntie Karen's highlights as well. It was defineitly my favorite way to spend the holidays. No concerns about presents and making sure your house is clean, just spending time soaking up the sun.

Friday, December 29, 2006

Darryl, Lucas and I are enjoying the heat and fun times here in Florida. I'll be sure to post lots of details on the weekend or next week with pictures. But for now I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

I read an article the other day that was talking about kids growing up in a day in age where you turn on the webcam on Christmas morning. So yesterday we had Christmas with our far away Ontario family on video conference. SO tell me far way family what was your favorite part?

Mine was when I would ask Lucas to do something, as he is my circus monkey, and he would shake his head no. Amazing to see him get personality and opionins. He is smarter then the dog..... who continues to be my circus monkey.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

The first year Darryl and I moved to Calgary it was 20 degrees on Christmas Day. It was a chinook. It probably snowed the week after, but it's so great to have warm breaks in the winter.

Today was a nice warm day as well. I don't know if it was technically a Chinook but after finsihing up our Christmas shopping Lucas and I played in the sandbox. It was great for him becuase we haven't played in there for months, so he was quite entertained for a while.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Today you turn 16 months old, you are lucky to share this part birthday with your Aunt Lexie, who's real birthday it is. Happy Birthday Alexis! I have been telling people for about a week or two that you are sixteen months. It is the holiday season and everyone is out and about so everywhere is busy and so people end up talking to people more often. That and we are out and about more.

As I'm sure I write every month, this one was also quite fun. One of the things I hope you learn about your mom is that she is an eternal optimist. I always try to look at the positive side of things, and sometimes when I reflect I realize that I was in a really hard time even though I was optimistic at the time. That being said most of this last month was really fun.

At the beginning of the month we headed off to Ontario. You were amazing on the airplane, both to and from. But you got quite sick while we were there. It was hard on both of us for you not to be in your own enviroment while sick. We did have a good visit with your Grammie, Grandad, Aunt Lori, Uncle Ian and Kenzie. One of the reasons I went through all the craziness was it is reallly important for me to have a relationship with your Dad's family. And although we live so far away I think you defintly will. We try to do alot to make this happen with visits, blog and videoconfercing. I also had so much fun with your cousin Mackenzie. When your dad and I lived in Ontario we spent lots of time with Kenzie and it's nice that we have that solid foundation for our relationship. Anyway we did have some highlights of the trip and you gave your Ontario relatives a slice of what life is like with a toddler. You adapted quite quickly once we got home. And while you were on the mend I got sick, but we managed.

Back at home you have enjoyed all the new parts of the season. Another thing you will discover about your mom is that Christmas is not my favorite time of year. Being your mom has changed that. It is so great to see your reaction to all the new things of the season. How you look at the lights on the Christmas tree or the "stars" from the disco ball ornaments. You love the blow up Santa's and Snowmen on people lawns or sitting on Santa's lap. It has been wonderful to see all your excitment at the new things, it makes the Christmas season more enjoyable.

You have made lots of strides with your development as well. More new words like kitty, kitty kitty (although it sounds more like "getty, getty, getty"), up and down (which you have perfected and know what it means). You are also mimicking lots of words, we will say something and you will attempt it as well. More dancing moves sch as kicking and trying to jump. You also are developing more opionions and feelings on things. You don't really like to go to bed, you would rather stay up and play. You also learned how to say no, or more like shaking your head to let us know how you feel. I"m not 100% sure you know what it means because sometimes you shake your head no, when you really mean yes.

You still love cars, but have added Thomas the Train and Winne the Pooh to your favorites. The "Cars" movie has come out, so there seems to be lots of car things around, which is great. You are also quite fond of MegaBlocks and building. Which makes your dad so happy. He loves to spend lots of time building with you. It's so great to see your interests developing.

You dad has had an instrumental role in these past couple of weeks in taking care of you. Christmas time is so busy and I've been quite busy. I've also started a new job which has kept me busy with orientation. As well as final exams at school, anyway enough making excuse, I have been away. Which has been good for you and your Dad. When I was looking for someone to spend my life with it was so important to me that the man I married would play a big role in our children's life. In the beginning all a baby needs is their mommy, but now that you are learning so much it's great that your Dad is there to play with you and take care of you all the time. You really enjoy spending time with him and building tall towers. I hope that you always know that you have two parents who love you more the life itself and they would rather spend time with you then doing anything else.

Friday, December 15, 2006

I just got back from walking Emma this evening and we saw a ton of rabbits from our street to the park. I usually feel quite bad for the rabbits. They lived here first and now becuase of this crazy urban sprawl we have taken over their home. That and Emma loves to chase them and although I don't think she'd ever hurt them I'm sure they are scared to death. I especially feel for a rabbit who has been abandoned. One of the families on the street bought a pet bunny, but he would often run away and neighboors would have to bring him back. Now they have decided just to let this bunny run free. I think this is horrible! I was worried that the deep freeze we had a couple of weeks ago would kill this bunny who was not designed to live in the wild, although do animals adapt? Does anyone know? I do feel bad for the small spotted bunny who is not really friends with the other bunnies, but this little bunny is smart enough to escape Emma.

Lucas and I had a fun adventure on the train today to Kenginston. It is a great area of Calgary. We went to lots of neat shops and met lots of resident cats who live in the stores. We picked up a couple more orginal gifts and bought a slingshot duck for Lucas, which makes me laugh. We also had the amazing cupcakes from Crave. Here is a picture of Lucas waiting for the train on our way home after our cupcakes.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

This morning Lucas and I went to Southcentre to have his picture taken with Santa. We showed up in the morning and the line was quite long. So we headed over the the "Mrs. Claus" section where you can decorate your own cookie for Santa and can watch movie. Well Lucas loved decorating the cookie (or shall we say he enjoyed eating the icing=)). So much so that when we got over to Santa he didn't want to let it go. So Lucas's picture of Santa this year is with an unsure look on his face and a big cookie in his hand. =)

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I was tagged by fellow blogger Allie, so I'm happy to play along. Here are 6 weird things about me. My BFF Tammy and I discussed them alot today:

1.I sing ALOT. When I worked as an x-ray technologist I would sing all day at work. Someone would say something I and I would sing a song with that line in it. I"m not quite a good as my sister who can listen to a song once and know all the words, but I'm pretty close.

2. I have never smoked, nor do I drink coffee. Which may not sound weird, but I have never even tried. Never had any sort of cigarette in my mouth. I am quite a prude that way. I did try coffee once a couple of years ago and it was better then I expected but very bitter.

3. Since living in this house I have lived with: Darryl's best friend, my parents, my best friend and her family (not all of them at the same time). When I was a kid things always had to be very quiet in my house becase my dad worked night shift. Becuase of that experience I've always wanted a loud house where everyone can hang out. Part of the reason we've had lots of people live with us.

4. My love for the Barenaked Ladies. I'm a like a teenager when it comes to BNL. Although I don't have posters of them on the walls, but I do listen to their CD once a day. And check their website once a day. Plus I feel excitment, almost everyday about going to the concert on in Febuary.

5. I am 27 and have had two "major" careers. One as an x-ray technologist and one as an instructor. The first year I was an instructor most of my students were older then I was.

6. I cannot sleep naked. No matter how hot it is in the summer, especially since there is no air conditioning in this house, I still have to have a tank top and underwear on.

7. Here is one extra:My ba-hum-bugness about Christmas. I am a generally happy, optimistic person, but I don't really like Christmas. There are certain things I like about Christmas, but I don't like the pressure of gift giving. Not that I don't like getting great gifts for people, but I wish it could happen randomly through the year when you find a great gift for someone. It just seems so fake and pressured. Bahumbug

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

While driving home from work one of the areas where I am always stuck in traffic is an area of Calgary called Kensington. There are a bunch of lights and it's close to downtown, so although I'm never stuck there long, I am always stopped at the light. There are lots of interesting shops and people on this street. One of the stores has a resident dog who often runs up and down the street. THere is the best cupcake store there called Crave. There are interesting clothing stores, bead stores, coffee shops and art stores. Like I said often intersting people walking in and out of these stores.

Today as I was driving by I had a moment of jealously. I saw a girl who kinded of reminded me of me.... She had curly hair and a great jacket. She had a backpack on and was walking in and out of stores. That girl use to be me before I had a child. Before Lucas I was not always racing home to be with him. I spent all my time on me. If I wanted to I could stroll around an interesting part of town I could park my car and do so. I could get interesting Christmas presents and have hot chocolate at the local coffee shop. But that is not my life any more.

Rather then sitting in the car feeling sorry for myself, I decided Lucas and I should take the train (which he would love) and stroll around this part of town. Together we can shop and drink hot chocolate and of course get "cack". Rather then being sad about my old life I'll embrace the new one and try to incoporate things I enjoyed in my old life.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Coming up pretty soon here I will have been blogging for a year. I'm not sure what I should do for my one year anniversary so if anyone has any ideas let me know. I have found this world of bloggers to be a very interesting thing. I started becuase of a friend of Darryl's and I thought it would be a great way to keep Darryl's family up to date on Lucas and what was happening with him. (Speaking of that, he is doing well, although teething and still having some seperation anxiety from his mommy, so if he has tylenol and me he is a-okay).

Blogging has become a fun past time for me. The best thing that has come from is was finding a great dayhome for Lucas. I'm so happy to have Lesley as my blogging friend. I feel like I know Lesley from her blog and I feel so confident when Lucas is in her care.

I now read so many blogs I can barely keep up. There are so many interesting people in the world and I'm happy to get a glimpse into their lives. I have also learned a "bit" about HTML, which has been interesting. It's also interesting to read about other people dilemas, one being about Santa Claus, which I will discuss later this week.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Lucas, Darryl and I are walking through Walmart a couple of days ago and Lucas starts to "ha-ha-ha" which is him panting like a dog. We ask him where the dog is because we don't see any around......

Driving home last night Lucas does the same thing "ha-ha-ha" *panting like a dog noise* It is quite dark outside and we are surprised that he sees a dog and cannot find it ourselves

Well today I figured out that with Lucas's limited communication skills what he is actually referring to is Santa Claus. Which we have been calling Ho Ho Ho! As Lucas could not say Santa Claus, but may be able to say ho-ho. He is not differentiating between the ha of a dog and the ho of Santa. I figured this out because he blatantly pointed to the picture of him sitting on Santa's knee from last year that his on our fridge and "ha-ha-ha"*panted like a dog*

If it makes Santa feel any better everyone thinks very highly of Emma.

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Lucas seems to be going through some seperation anxiety again. It seems to have escaleted because I worked at 2 jobs yesterday which meant I left Lucas before he woke up in the morning and didn't get home till he was in bed yesterday. Today everytime I left the room Lucas would cry and scream. I was even peeing with him on my lap today. Of course he was fine moments after I left him at the day home, but it's so hard to hear your kid call for you and have to turn around and walk away. Tonight I couldn't walk away I rocked him to sleep. I peed with him on my lap, I did what ever he wanted. Rather then pull a hard line I'm going to cherish this, becuase in a day that is not far enough way, Lucas will want his mom to drop him off at the corner before the store, or not want me to give him a hug in public.

I think we'll really enjoy all the time we will be able to spend together over Christmas.

Most people who meet Lucas realize how much he understands, like most babies. Babies always understand a lot before they can communicate back with you. This is one of the reasons Baby Sign Language has become a big hit, is becuase babies can use their hands to tell you things before they can use words to tell you things. The baby sign language has been fairly sucessful for Lucas and I. I am sure it has helped our communication and decrease his frustration over understanding and being able to communicate.

In the last couple of days we have been working hard on learning new words. I am also learning what words are good to start with. For example words that start with a vowel often work well. Today we worked on: in and out and up and down. Down is more like "dow" he is also quite good with eight and kitty today. He has grown quite fond of small stuffed animals. He like to hug them, sit on them and carry them around. We did recently buy a small stuffed cat from the gap and he is loving it. If you squeeze it the cat meows, which makes Lucas smile.

The other new Lucas thing is that he has gone through a growth spurt. Sleeping alot, eating alot and all the sudden none of his 12 month pants fit. I am in the process of packing them all up and getting out the 18 month and 2 year old pants. Which means were are back into rolling up the cuffs and hanging pants. Oh well, I guess this is what life has become. =)

Monday, December 04, 2006

Well we had a very eventful weekend. On Saturday morning we headed off to Cora's Breakfast Place. It was AMAZING. Good portions, lots of fruit and good extras (free banana's for LUcas, free fudge as you walk out the door). It was a great place, but it fills up fast. I also hear they are a Canada wide chain, so they may be in other places as well.

After that we headed over to our friend Mo's house, who just had a new baby, Adia. She was so small and slept the whole time. I did hold her for a moment, but it made her cry. Guess I didn't smell like her parents, I probably wasn't warm enough either. Congradulations Mo and Allison, it looks like you are doing a great job. While there Lucas quite enjoyed playing with their bunny rabit, although when the bunny peed on the floor, Lucas totally gave him away, by staring intently at the pee on the floor =) Luckily Lucas didn't step on the bunny, although did come close a couple of times, the bunny is going to have lots of time to learn about a moving baby, before Aida is up and moving.

After that Darryl spent most of the weekend helping friends of ours build a garage. He said it was a great learning experience for him as his friend had some framing experts there.

On Saturday night Darryl and I went to his Christmas Party. We had some pictures, but somehow I deleted them. Hopefully if some of Darryl's co-workers are reading this they could send them to me. It was a great party. Any of the Christmas parties I've been to have never been by a larger company. Anything that is done by the governement you have to pay for all yourself. This party was free, and the butter tarts were the best I have ever had! They had a live band, that did a great job. A Characterist, a futurist who told me I was going to change jobs next year, a body artist. For the body artist I asked for a couple of ladybugs for Lucas. A couple of ladybugs turned into my whole upper arm beautifully painted with lady bugs on some leaves. They also had a henna artist, although we didn't have that done. Unfortuanly Darryl's co-workers are not a dancing bunch, so I didn't get to bust a move very often on the dance floor. But Darryl did come a dance with me a couple of times.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Lucas learns so much everyday. It is so amazing. The other day we took out a alphabet puzzle that we have had for a while, but he never really knew how to put together, and bam, bam, bam, he's putting all the letters where they belong.

Another new thing he has learned is to say "K". When I phrase something to him and put an okay at the end of it, he'll say k. It's so so cute. In the bathtub tonight I say: 5 more minutes okay?, He replies" K". In the mall today Jenn says: Lets go to the next store, okay? "K", says Lucas.